If you’re a wrestling fan with more than half a brain cell you’ll have realised how every show/angle/storyline and pretty much everything you see on TV is scripted in one way or another. Everything and I mean everything is planned, from lighting to the timing of impromptu run-ins or post match beat downs, to the winners/losers, even to the placement of commercials or advertisements on the show. This blog will go into detail about the concept of reality in professional wrestling and how it can shape the entire ideology of the business. I’ll be looking at how reality is used in wrestling for both good and bad measure, how reality can make the product better or worse, and my own viewpoint of how the industries perception of reality is blown out of proportion, creating a negative in the world of wrestling.
Wrestling promotions try to incorporate reality to their shows to simply improve their product. In short, wrestling like most other entity on television is trying to capitalise on the rise of reality television, which garners widespread attention, especially in western countries which ‘US’ style wrestling is the norm. How do promotions add reality to sports entertainment? Some federations, mostly independent and maybe even the big two I usually talk about try to make their product fan interactive, by that I mean the fans of that product get up close and personal to create a sense that you are part of this wrestling reality. For example, last year (2010) I attended a TNA live show in Wembley Arena, and after the event, Kurt Angle told the crowd that this was his home, and the fans in TNA are his family. Brother Ray (Now Bully Ray) then said “This is a million times better than any of that WWE crap”. TNA for example is a company which is trying to take over the wrestling universe, so the perception of reality comes from the wrestlers who ‘sell’ a perception of reality, and for many TNA fans, the need to be bigger than the WWE is a real issue which many people care about (Some people just don’t like WWE though).
Promotions are also involved with the wider community and a part of the culture for thousands, so people get suckered in, but these promotions, the WWE in particular gets its sense of reality from what it does for communities. WWE are heavily involved with the ‘Make a Wish Foundation’, which gives sick, injured or disabled children a chance to meet their favourite superstars, John Cena for example recently made his 200th wish, a landmark for the WWE. Also recently in the 2010 Senate Race, Linda McMahon ran for congress (As a Republican). Linda quit her position in the WWE and moved completely away from wrestling to focus on the Senate run, but her running opponent Blumenthal (Democrat) started to accuse Linda of not being fit to run for Senate because of her work in the WWE. As real pressure started to mount for the WWE, Vince and his employees started the “Stand Up for WWE” campaign, which was launched in the companies defence, to show they are a positive, community based company, basically battling the claims of Blumenthal. In the WWE they highlighted the work they have done to providing millions with entertainment, charity work, guest appearances, and general ‘stuff’ the WWE have done to better people in the real world. Linda lost. Linda lost by a lot. But that’s just the problem, who really knows what is really in wrestling? When someone gets injured for real, do people think it is part of the show and do they really care because fans have seen it all before?
The biggest problem for me is the nostalgia effect the internet has on wrestling. Outside the ring many fans know everything about certain wrestlers, but everyone’s lives are broadcast on endless forum/spoiler/news sites. We as wrestling fans no longer just watch the show, but it’s only natural that if you are interested in a particular wrestler, then of course as many other people do, you’ll want to find out more. But this takes away from the smoke and mirrors, the whole nostalgia effect wrestling is supposed to have on its audience. A good example is Matt Morgan, everyone who follows TNA knows he is a well-rounded, kind and general good person, but when cast in a heel role (A bad guy for n00bs) it’s just not believable. John Cena is also a good example, despite many people desperate to see him turn heel, it just isn’t realistic. That’s one problem with reality then: You are limited with what you can do with your superstars unless everything about their social and personal lives are secret and unknown.
Another issue with reality are the champions of a promotion. Currently on WWE RAW, a show with The Big Show, John ‘Superman’ Cena, Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Vladimir Koslov, The Nexus and a host of believable champions, why is The Miz of all people champion? Three months prior to his WWE Championship victory (Over Randy Orton on RAW, when he cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase) the so called awesome one was jobbing relentlessly to Daniel Bryan, now the United States champion week in, week out. For a large chunk of his career The Miz has been made to look bad, so almost out of nowhere Miz is able to not only win a MITB match featuring the biggest stars of RAW, but able to beat Randy Orton, a man bigger in size, power, stature and star quality. What’s even worse is despite all this, Miz hasn’t been a bad champion, in fact he has been rather the opposite, also despite the fact he is not the most hated character on the show. He still doesn’t get as much heat as The Nexus, or big name heels such as Kane or Chris Jericho. It makes the champions appear unbelievable. It’s just not the WWE though, after Ring of Honour (ROH) lost its top star and ROH Champion Tyler Black, Roderick Strong stepped up and took the title off him at the next PPV, making Strong appear only as a makeshift, second rate champion due to Black leaving for the WWE. TNA aren’t no saints either, they had owner Jeff Jarrett win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship six times within five years, unrealistic because Jeff was one of the bookers and controlled his own fate, thus the reality of Jarrett as a proper world champion in TNA nothing more than make belief. With champions the numbers just don’t add up. Just put yourself in a real life situation, would Jeff Hardy or Ken Anderson really be able to beat and pin Matt Morgan? No chance, no chance in hell.
Talking about size, another In Ring Issue concerned with reality is the actual size of wrestlers. In a wrestling world where weight (Apart from cruiserweights and the TNA X-Division) doesn’t matter, fans know that the big, muscle jacked superstars should be on top. Stars such as Kane, Ezekiel Jackson, Matt Morgan, Hernandez, The Undertaker, Triple H, Wade Barrett, Abyss, Mark Henry and others should dominate, but rather we have the opposite where ‘normal’ sized superstars such as Edge, The Miz, Rey Mysterio, John Cena, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson, Kurt Angle and AJ Styles among others are the constant champions, and focus of shows. It makes sense from a perspective of the wrestling fan. Who wants to see the same slow, oversized wrestlers face off again and again for the titles knowing all inevitable outcomes before the match has begun? Wrestling is past the days of having huge, oversized gimmicked characters such as Hulk Hogan do this, but it is still not realistic. Wrestling may have evolved, but in a world where wrestling fans now don’t know the difference between Kayfabe and real information. An incident like this took place on WWE.com, when Daniel Bryan was fired and released on the website because of the tie incident on RAW when he choked Justin Roberts with his own tie, something not worthy of TV PG apparently. The lines of reality and scripted television are crossed so much no one knew what the truth was.
We embrace it, we love it, we watch it, we adore it, we want to be part of it, we want to advance it, we believe in it, we buy into it, wrestling for most of us is the perfect get away from ‘real’ life expectations and reality, a chance to watch something completely different and unique, we don’t watch because of reality, we watch for everything larger than life, and yes despite their version of reality being blown out of proportion, I’d have it no other way.
Robert Austin
“In Ring Issues”
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